


Seeing Stars

by nightbirdrises



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-29
Updated: 2015-09-29
Packaged: 2018-04-23 21:44:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4893442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightbirdrises/pseuds/nightbirdrises
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Having an alien friend is one thing. Having a cute alien friend who seems to have visited every corner of the galaxy is another, but it sure makes stargazing more interesting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seeing Stars

**Author's Note:**

> sometimes you just need to write about a cute alien and his equally cute friend to work out the creative mind a little bit after spending some time without writing a damn thing. inspired by chameleons and space.

“Looking at the stars is a little morbid, isn’t it?” Kurt says, absently picking at the edge of the blanket they’d brought to the park. Next to him, Blaine turns onto his side to face him with an easy, relaxed smile.

“How so?”

“Well, they’re so far away that by the time the light gets to us, the star is probably dead. Right?”

“Right. More or less.”

“More or less?” Kurt frowns, then looks at Blaine. His friend’s jacket has long since been discarded, left on the grass nearby along with his usual bow tie once they realized they were as alone as can be. As a result, Blaine is left with a white polo, unbuttoned so as to let the summer breeze cool him off. Even in the dark, Kurt can see some of the smooth, rounded, rich blue scales that cover Blaine’s upper chest and shoulders. 

“If you travel a certain way, you can still visit those solar systems. They may be gone from your planet’s perspective, in this universe and time, but not necessarily in another.”

“Ah, I forgot. You’re a time traveler.” Kurt smiles a little; he has known Blaine for two years and has known that he’s not human for at least half of that time. But it’s still strange to imagine this young man - supposedly just a bit younger than him in Earth years although he has technically been alive for longer - exploring the galaxy and the wider universe in some science-fiction spaceship with hundreds of his kind from birth.

“Not  _really_ ,” Blaine says. “More like… an intergalactic pilgrim.”

“So, wait, does that mean you’ve been to some of those solar systems up there?” Kurt asks, suddenly curious. Blaine nods. “What are they like?”

“Very different,” Blaine says. “I should tell you that I haven’t touched down on very many planets, though. Your planet, Earth, is my first real assignment now that I’m old enough to contribute.”

“I know, but you must have heard of and seen some amazing things.”

Blaine smiles, looking up into the night sky. He points somewhere off to the right above them and says, “We visited that solar system, the dim star near the moon, when I was very young. One of the planets there regularly experiences the phenomena you usually call the Northern Lights here, at all times. The sky seemed to be alive with color; we felt it was a shame that there were no intelligent species yet evolved to appreciate the sight. Some of the more elderly members chose to stay behind so as to live out the rest of their lives with that kind of beauty above them.”

“Oh, wow. You know, I’ve never even seen the Northern Lights on Earth.”

“We, that is,  _you_  should make a point of seeing them,” Blaine says. “Humans seem to appreciate color almost as much as we do.”

“Well, humans don’t have any nifty chameleon powers,” Kurt says, reaching to gently touch Blaine’s scales. In response, they slowly turn from blue to a yellow-green, a sign that Blaine’s heart rate and emotional state have risen from relaxed to… something more. Kurt’s still working out how to read Blaine’s emotions through his color changes. “I thought these needed sunlight.”

“Moonlight is enough,” Blaine murmurs. “They’re much more reflective than anything like them on Earth. I could explain exactly how they work, but–”

“But I probably wouldn’t understand.” Kurt smiles as Blaine starts to shake his head. “It’s okay, if I want to find out, I can research chameleons on my own time. Tonight is about spending time together. Tomorrow night can be about science.”

Blaine laughs quietly. “Okay, fair enough.”

“Tell me about another solar system.”

Scanning the night sky, then pointing towards the left at a bright star near the moon, Blaine says, “That one has two stars and only a single planet, which has yet to develop any organic life at all. The surface was too dangerous for all but the most experienced of us, but they brought back stories of mysterious tracks in the stone.  _Huge_  ones, so big on such a small planet that we guessed only a few members of the species could possibly be alive at one time.”

“It seems like large creatures don’t do as well on planets as small ones,” Kurt muses. “Like the dinosaurs here, for instance. If I remember science class correctly, only small animals survived the extinction.”

“Size does become a problem at a certain point,” Blaine agrees. “Sheer power may work for a while, but whenever there’s a disaster, it’s the small and clever that make it.”

Kurt grins. “Like you.”

“Hey, we’re the same size as you. Most of us.”

“I know, but I mean you specifically. As an individual, you’re… I don’t know, compact.”

Blaine scoffs. “You’re only taller by an inch or two. Not counting the height of your hair.”

“Fine, but you  _are_  clever. You’re so good at pretending to be a human that even I forget you’re a whole different species that I can’t pronounce the name of.” Kurt hesitates. “Sometimes I…”

Blaine tilts his head, listening intently. He appears calm, and even his scales remain a greenish blue. So he must not suspect, or has never considered the possibility that Kurt might…

“Never mind,” Kurt says awkwardly, turning his gaze back to the stars. “Can I ask you another question?”

“Of course.“

“Of all the things you’ve seen in the universe, what amazed you the most?”

“Oh.” Blaine, oddly, looks at him rather than the sky. “I think it’s when I saw the entire galaxy at once, in person. All its light and life in a single instant.”

“How did you do that?” Kurt says, staring at him. “I don’t want to say that’s not possible because, well, what do I know about space? But that sounds impossible.”

“It  _was_  impossible.” The colors change to yellow, pulsing orange, as Blaine resolutely keeps his eyes fixed upon Kurt’s. “Then I met you.”

“Wh-What do you mean?”

“Do you remember when we met? I didn’t know who Anna Wintour was.” Kurt nods, remembering. He’d thought it was weird, considering even the football players at least knew her name. Little he did know that the new kid in school was also new to the entire planet. “I was so clueless about human fashion, and you were nice enough to explain some things. But I couldn’t tell you what you said because, um, you were smiling.”

“Smiling?” Blaine nods and clears his throat, the aurora borealis dancing across his skin.

“I was distracted by the stars in your eyes and life enough in your face to make the most abundant planets seem dull. I requested a longer stay as soon as I could because I hated the thought of leaving without getting to know you.”

“Oh.” Kurt, certain that his cheeks are as red as Blaine’s scales, searches for something to say. “How, um, how long?”

“I–“ Blaine pauses, his gaze breaks for a moment as he glances at the ground between them. “Forever, I guess.”

“What? Blaine, you gave up exploring the  _galaxy_  for some Vogue-obsessed person you’d just met?”

“It was the choice I made. I haven’t regretted it since. Some other choices, however…” Taking a deep breath, Blaine looks at Kurt’s lips, then his eyes. “Like not kissing you when I’ve wanted to for longer than I want to admit.”

“We’re not even… I mean, I’m not, and you’re not–“ Kurt mentally kicks himself for trying to find excuses not to let this happen, something he has been daydreaming about for as long as he has found Blaine attractive. So, pretty much since they met. The whole alien thing had complicated his feelings, but far from helping him get over them, it had just intrigued him more in the end. But now Blaine feels the same way and he’s  _hesitating_. “You’re not going away?”

“No. The others left to search for their ideas of beauty in the universe, but I’ve found it here. In architecture, art, nature, but especially you.”

“And… it doesn’t bother you that we’re from different species?”

“As long as it doesn’t bother you. I promise, I don’t have anything that you would find inhuman in, um, down there. Not that I think you want to see! I mean, maybe you do, but, I, I’m going to stop talking.”

Kurt can’t help it. Through the searing blush on his cheeks, he smiles at the adorably fumbling turn that Blaine’s demeanor has taken. The hesitation mostly gone, he says, “How about just the kiss for now?”

“Yeah, okay,” Blaine says, relaxing into an easy grin and shades of golden yellow. Closing his eyes and the distance between them, Kurt presses his lips to Blaine’s. His heart pounding at the touch, he wonders if Blaine’s is too, can’t tell by the color of his scales so he absently reaches to rest his palm on Blaine’s chest. Kurt feels the smooth transition from cool scales to warm skin and a heartbeat, quick and lively. Blaine makes a questioning sound against his lips and Kurt pulls back from the kiss.

“Sorry. Just, I wanted to feel your heartbeat because I couldn’t see your color. Is that weird?”

“No, no, it’s nice. May I?” Blaine asks softly, reaching his hand towards Kurt’s chest. It occurs to him that, growing up around his own kind, Blaine’s used to the color-changing ability as a means of decoding emotions based on heart rate. Kurt must be an enigma in comparison.

“Go ahead.”

Blaine’s hand is gentle on Kurt’s chest, and they kiss again, with more urgency than before. The moon inches towards the horizon above them, the stars begin to fade. This time Blaine is the one to break the kiss, his breath soft on Kurt’s cheek. “I’ve never had a first date on Earth before.”

“What do you think?”

“I think my expectations are going to be very high for all future dates.”

Kurt smiles, sits up and stretches as he looks at the hint of dawn just beginning to break. “We’ve been out here a long time. We won’t be able to stargaze soon.”

“Another time,” Blaine says. “Until then, I can look at you. And… you can look in a mirror?”

“I do like looking in mirrors,” Kurt says, holding back a grin as he stands. He may be a sucker for romance, but he knows Blaine is, too, and their next date is already forming as an idea in his head. After all, he has to match being compared to the galaxy somehow. “Come on, let’s go to my place. I’ll make pancakes.”

Blaine brightens, if that’s even possible, and he jumps to his feet. “With blueberries?”

“With blueberries.” Maybe not every date needs to be as romantic as the universe, Kurt decides when he makes smiley faces out of berries in Blaine’s pancakes, just as long as he gets to see him smile again and again with the radiance of the sun.


End file.
